The Hollister High girls basketball team stepped into a field of
land mines Friday in a trip to last-place Live Oak.
MORGAN HILL – The Hollister High girls basketball team stepped into a field of land mines Friday in a trip to last-place Live Oak.
The Acorns, behind an enthusiastic homecoming crowd, grabbed an early lead and threatened to pull off the major upset.
But Hollister pulled itself up by its shoelaces and held off the pesky Acorns 51-43.
The victory for the Balers (15-7, 2-4 Tri-County Athletic League) halted a four-game losing streak. It also kept the Acorns (5-12) winless in the T-CAL at 0-6.
The game was a far cry from the first meeting in league between the two teams when the Balers strolled to a 57-29 win at Mattson Gym.
“We played a lot better than we did in our last game with them,” said Acorns forward Adrienne Terry, who had nine points. “Hollister came in overconfident against us.”
“I knew this would be a dangerous trip,” said Baler head coach Richard Silva. “It’s their homecoming and they played with a lot of emotion.”
The Acorns were up 12-4 early, thanks to Leanne Lopez, who had five of her 15 points in the first period. The Balers finally got their transition game going, initially ignited by sophomore Dani Andrewson, who threw up a long two-point shot attempt from the top of the key as the shot clock wound down. The ball banked in right before the buzzer went off. Andrewson followed that with a steal and a dish to Gina Cainiello and the Balers were down 14-12.
Hollister worked a nice high-low with Sarah Groman passing inside to Naomi Ruiz and the game was tied, and Groman’s follow shot gave the Balers their first lead at 16-14.
The Balers would have entered intermission up seven points, but Live Oak’s Amanda Lytle cast off from 40 feet just before the horn and the ball swished through for three points.
Trisha Lee had six of her 14 points in the third period as the Balers surged ahead for good. Caianiello stole the ball at mid-court and scored and Hollister was up 34-22. Lopez answered with a three-pointer. Lee let loose from half-court before time ran down in the third period, and the ball went off the backboard and down, then out again.
Andrewson’s bucket at the start of the fourth gave the Balers their biggest lead at 42-26. Groman had a big block down the stretch and Caianiello knocked down two free throws with 45 seconds left to help seal the win.
The game was refereed in “no blood, no foul” style, but fortunately no one got hurt.
Caianiello had a game-high 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor. She was also 4-of-4 from the line. Groman had nine points to go with six rebounds and three blocks. Ruiz had six points and eight rebounds.
“We have two goals left in the season,” said Silva. “We want to finish no worse than 5-5 and 10 games over .500 overall. It seemed like we were stuck on 14 wins for a long time. It was good to get off that.”
The Balers attempt to make it two wins in a row when they travel to Gilroy on Tuesday.
Baler bits: Silva started junior Sarah Rocha and senior Desina Gonzalez, two players who don’t normally start, though Gonzalez started some games earlier in the year. Gonzalez had one of the better passes on the night when she hustled after a pass from Lee underneath the basket and dished backwards in traffic to a trailing Ruiz, who was fouled going to the hoop. – As a team, Hollister had 13 steals. Four were from Andrewson and five were from Caianiello, who also had four assists.
JV score: Hollister 58, Live Oak 16. The Balers dominated the boards with 50 rebounds. Jen Crepeau had 10 boards, while Jaime Hall had nine rebounds. Cortney Almaguer had 12 points to lead Hollister while Jaime Flores donated 11.
Hollister 8 13 17 13 – 51
Live Oak 12 5 9 17 – 43
H – Caianiello 6 4-4 16, Groman 4 1-2 9, Ruiz 2 2-8 6, Lee 6 2-2 14, Andrewson 2 0-0 4, Tremblay 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 9-16 51.
LO – Dominguez 1 0-0 2, Lopez 5 4-7 15, Terry 4 1-2 9, Guevera 2 0-0 4, Hanes 3 2-2 8, Cline 1 0-0 2, Lytle 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 7-11 43.
3-point goals: Lopez, Lytle (LO).
